scholarly journals Does Cystic Fibrosis Constitute an Advantage in COVID-19 Infection?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentino Bezzerri ◽  
Francesca Lucca ◽  
Sonia Volpi ◽  
Marco Cipolli

Abstract The Veneto region is one of the most affected Italian regions by COVID-19. Chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may constitute a risk factor in COVID-19. Moreover, respiratory viruses were generally associated with severe pulmonary impairment in cystic fibrosis (CF). We would have therefore expected numerous cases of severe COVID-19 among the CF population. Surprisingly, we found that CF patients were significantly protected against infection by SARS-CoV-2. We discussed this aspect formulating some reasonable theories.

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentino Bezzerri ◽  
Francesca Lucca ◽  
Sonia Volpi ◽  
Marco Cipolli

Abstract The Veneto region is one of the most affected Italian regions by COVID-19. Chronic lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may constitute a risk factor in COVID-19. Moreover, respiratory viruses were generally associated with severe pulmonary impairment in cystic fibrosis (CF). We would have therefore expected numerous cases of severe COVID-19 among the CF population. Surprisingly, we found that CF patients were significantly protected against infection by SARS-CoV-2. We discussed this aspect formulating some reasonable theories.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (Supplement 3) ◽  
pp. S154-S160 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bradley Drummond ◽  
A. Sonia Buist ◽  
James D. Crapo ◽  
Robert A. Wise ◽  
Stephen I. Rennard

Author(s):  
Vivek N. Iyer

Obstructive lung diseases include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (eg, chronic bronchitis and emphysema), asthma, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, obliterative bronchiolitis, and diffuse panbronchiolitis (eg, bullous lung disease, α‎1-antitrypsin deficiency, and airway stenosis). The 2 most prevalent obstructive lung diseases are COPD and asthma.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 807-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Meiners ◽  
Oliver Eickelberg ◽  
Melanie Königshoff

Ageing is the main risk factor for major non-communicable chronic lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, most forms of lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. While the prevalence of these diseases continually increases with age, their respective incidence peaks at different times during the lifespan, suggesting specific effects of ageing on the onset and/or pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Recently, the nine hallmarks of ageing have been defined as cell-autonomous and non-autonomous pathways involved in ageing. Here, we review the available evidence for the involvement of each of these hallmarks in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Importantly, we propose an additional hallmark, “dysregulation of the extracellular matrix”, which we argue acts as a crucial modifier of cell-autonomous changes and functions, and as a key feature of the above-mentioned lung diseases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal Kant Sahu ◽  
Ajay Kumar Mishra ◽  
Kevin Martin ◽  
Iryna Chastain

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has so far led to innumerable deaths worldwide. The risk factors so far that have been most studied as poor prognostic factors are old age, individuals with multiple comorbidities and immunocompromised patients. Amongst the chronic lung diseases, most patients with COVID-19 reported so far had asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and interstitial lung disease. Herein, we discuss the significance of restrictive lung disease during the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential risk factor via an example of a patient with kyphoscoliosis who succumbed to death due to COVID-19 pneumonia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 5018
Author(s):  
Michael C. McKelvey ◽  
Ryan Brown ◽  
Sinéad Ryan ◽  
Marcus A. Mall ◽  
Sinéad Weldon ◽  
...  

Dysregulated protease activity has long been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic lung diseases and especially in conditions that display mucus obstruction, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, and non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. However, our appreciation of the roles of proteases in various aspects of such diseases continues to grow. Patients with muco-obstructive lung disease experience progressive spirals of inflammation, mucostasis, airway infection and lung function decline. Some therapies exist for the treatment of these symptoms, but they are unable to halt disease progression and patients may benefit from novel adjunct therapies. In this review, we highlight how proteases act as multifunctional enzymes that are vital for normal airway homeostasis but, when their activity becomes immoderate, also directly contribute to airway dysfunction, and impair the processes that could resolve disease. We focus on how proteases regulate the state of mucus at the airway surface, impair mucociliary clearance and ultimately, promote mucostasis. We discuss how, in parallel, proteases are able to promote an inflammatory environment in the airways by mediating proinflammatory signalling, compromising host defence mechanisms and perpetuating their own proteolytic activity causing structural lung damage. Finally, we discuss some possible reasons for the clinical inefficacy of protease inhibitors to date and propose that, especially in a combination therapy approach, proteases represent attractive therapeutic targets for muco-obstructive lung diseases.


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